This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy

Whenever I listen to certain songs of yesteryears, I am always baffled by the choice of Singers for the particular song where the actors are required to act songs in an unfamiliar voice or without their usual singers. Of course, I am referring to songs mostly from pre-70s especially sixties as post-70, it became a fad for all the heroes to have KK singing for them and in fiftees, almost all Heroes had two or three Singers singing for them. When I listen to the melodious Rafi – Lata duet “Tum Hi Tum Ho Mere Jeevan Me” (Ek Dil Sau Afsane), I wonder what made SJ to select Rafi in place of Mukesh or even Mannadey, two best known play back singers for Raj Kapoor. Similarly, Rafi’s song in Mera Naam Joker. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy

A big debate is going on in various web sites of Rafiji, KK and others regarding who was a better singer. In fact, this sort of discussion was always going on even in our days when we used to heatedly argue as to who was better.

No doubt, all these great Singers, whether it was Rafi or KK or Mukesh or Hemant or Talat or Mannadey or Mahendra, gave us wonderful songs which we remember even now after so many years. Mukesh was very good in songs filled with pathos, uncomplicated songs without much high or low, soft, simple songs. Some of his songs especially for Raj Kapoor were superb. Hemant Kumar with a heavy voice, was also good in all these respects as Mukesh was and his songs had a touch of the Bengal culture and Rabindra Sangeet. Talat was King of Gazals, soft, velvety voice used especially well by Madan Mohan and he was the main Singer for Dilip Kumar before Rafi took over. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. Anmol Singh.

The Eyes which are an integral part of our body are a gift of nature. Eyes can give an expression without words. The portrayal of love, emotions, fear, confusion, mischief, solitude, pain, cruelty, truthfulness, etc can be expressed through eyes. In the golden era of 50s and 60s when love was expressed through sensuality, eyes played an integral part of the characterization of a role. This provided a lot of scope to writers to pen down some of the evergreen writings in the form of songs, dialogs, scripts, etc. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. Vinod Viplav.

Mohammad Rafi transformed thousands of ordinary songs into unforgettable & immortal with the touch of his charismatic voice. After the departure of this great legend, incalculable numbers of new singers came to light and many of his contemporary singers claimed to be best, but all disappeared in the dark. On other hand the magical effect of the songs of Rafi Sahab on the hearts of millions of music lovers is becoming deeper day by day. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy

Dev Anand was called evergreen hero because of his looks, boyish charm, his style, his positive energy and perhaps also due to the fact that he acted with maximum heroines in his career. The songs he sang on screen added to his romantic image whether the Singer was Rafi or KK or Talat or Hemant or even Mannadey (‘Chale Ja Rahe Hain, Mohabbat Ke Maare’ from Meena Kumari starrer Kinare Kinare). Songs from his fiftees and especially early sixties were mainly instrumental in popularising his movies. (more…)

Zindagi Bhar Nahin Bhulegi Woh Barsaat Ki Raat
Ek Anjaan Hasina Se Molakhat Ki Raat

This article is compiled by Mr. Biman Baruah, Sivasagar, Assam. E-mail: bimanbaruah{at}yahoo.co.in

It was a CLASSIC rain song sung by Rafi Saheb with beautiful composition by Roshan Saheb on extraordinary lyrics by Sahir Ludhyanvi from the film Barsat Ki Raat with perfect lip harmonization by Bharat Bhushan on whom good numbers of Rafi gems had been picturized and who came to spotlight of stardom with golden voice of Rafi Saheb. The said song was twice in the film, one solo by Rafi Saheb and one duet by RafI-Lata picturised on Bharat Bhushan and Madhubala. There was another classical rain song in the film “Garjat Barsat Sawan Aayo Re” which was sung by Suman Kalyanpur and Kamal Barot. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. H.V.Guru Murthy.

Mohammed Rafi Sahab has sung plenty of duets with many female Singers, but quantity-wise, duets with Asha and Lata stand out. It is gathered that Rafiji has sung about 903 duets with Asha and about 447 with Lata. The huge difference was perhaps due to Rafi-Lata’s rift for about three years and consequently the higher number of duets of Rafi- Asha during that period. One more reason was the preference of MDs like OPN to have only Rafi and Asha.

Which duets were better, whether it was with Lata or Asha? A very difficult question to answer and the safest bet will be to say that both were equally good. But let us analyse. (more…)

This article is written by Mr. Anmol Singh.

Songs in background in films are used to describe a special occasion in a film where either there is turning point in the story or a special message to be conveyed. Among all the singers a classic example would be the legendary composer S D Burman who never gave play back to any actor as a singer. He sang for only special occasions in many classics like Bandhni, Sujata, Guide, etc. All most every singer has contributed incredible songs sung in background. There are few gems contributed by Rafi Sahab as well. (more…)